Gabs to have interchangeable roads

SHARE | Monday, 10 July 2017 | By Phillimon Mmeso

The traffic congestion currently experienced in the capital city especially in the three major intersections could soon be a thing of the past, as Ministry of Transport and Communications intends upgrading them. Briefing Parliament recently, Minister Kitso Mokaila said that tenders have already been advertised for the Game City, Rainbow school and Btv intersections and submissions will be closed sometime this month. Mokaila said the construction of the interchangeable road network commonly nicknamed spaghetti was funded through a loan from World Bank as part of Gaborone Integrated Transport Model. He said they signed the loan in 2010 which was US$385.2 million but admitted that due to lack of capacity within the ministry, they have not done well with this particular project. “I think to date we spent around US$ 58 million looking at the studies that had to be done in Gaborone. The biggest challenge like I said is lack of capacity, especially project management. It is what is lacking,” he told Parliament, adding that it was one of the reasons the World Bank didn’t release the funds. He said that the aim of the loan was to try to improve the flow of Traffic in Gaborone looking at the roads, intersections robots, as well as the type of cars the country need. Part of Gaborone Integrated Transport Model includes the Traffic Signals Modernisation and Provision of Centralized Traffic Control for Greater Gaborone City. The project’s aim is to create a modern Centralized Traffic Control system that will help increase intersection capacity and relieve the city of congestion problems. The first interchange road was built in Francistown and opened to the public recently.